Applying for social assistance

If you have too little money to get by, you may be entitled to social assistance (bijstand). You can apply for social assistance at your municipality or the werk.nl website, an online work platform operated by the Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen – UWV (Employee Insurance Agency).

You are entitled to social assistance if you:

are a Dutch citizen or lawfully resident in the Netherlands, and;
are aged 18 or over;
do not have enough income or funds to get by. Your (joint) income must be below the social assistance standard (in Dutch);
cannot claim any other provision or benefit;
are not in prison or in a detention house.

There are also a number of obligations when you receive social assistance (in Dutch).

This is how it works for you

Your (future) place of residence falls under:

Municipality of Amersfoort

Here is some information from your municipality.

Applying for social assistance benefit

If you are unemployed or do not have enough money to live on, you can apply for social assistance benefits.

Conditions

In order to receive a social assistance benefit, you must at least meet the following conditions:

You are registered with the UWV WERKbedrijf.
You live legally in the Netherlands.
You are 18 years or older. Are you younger than 27 years old? Please contact the Youth Desk first. For more information, visit the website of the Youth Desk. Have you become unemployed on or after your 50th birthday, have you not yet reached state pension age and have you received unemployment benefits for at least 3 months? Read more about the IOAW on the page Other social assistance benefits.
You do not have enough income or property to live on.
You are not entitled to any other benefits.
You are not in prison.

You can register at the town hall on Monday to Thursday between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and on Friday between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. You then go to the desk at Stadhuisplein 3. You can get an appointment with the homeless team through this desk. This team will help you further.

Are you younger than 27 years old? Then an appointment will be made at the counter with the youth counter. After the search period of 4 weeks you will join the homeless team.

You will find out within 8 weeks whether you will receive social assistance. You will receive social assistance from the date of the application.